PRWID board says no to extra pay for night shift work

The Price River Water Improvement District won't be paying workers at its water plant extra money for working night and graveyard shifts.

Employees had asked the board to consider their suggestion for a shift differential for the late work and the board did discuss it at some length before denying the request.

Board members were reluctant to complicate the pay structure. Plant workers rotate shifts, which means they all work all three shifts on a scheduled basis. That would mean their pay would vary depending on what time they worked rather than what they did.

"I don't mind paying for skills, but not this. It would open a can of worms to create a differential," commented board member Ben Blackburn, mayor of Wellington.

In other discussion points, the board noted that the workers signed on with the understanding that they would be working rotating shifts.

There was also a question of increasing the complexity of accounting for different pay at different hours.

Chairman Richard Tatton noted that it has taken some time for the district to come up with an acceptable pay scale for the different skills and qualifications district-wide, and that tampering with the system might cause more problems that it would solve.